With HMO Gone, Texas Health Will Wed Baylor Health

MANAGED CARE September 1998. ©1998 Stezzi Communications

Texas Health Resources, the parent company of Harris Methodist Health Plan, has agreed to unload its money-losing HMO to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. The Blues will buy a majority stake in Harris Methodist, though the purchase price has yet to be determined.

Disposing of Harris Methodist, the largest HMO in northern Texas with about 325,000 members, is a big step in Texas Health's own makeover. The company, which owns 13 hospitals and the HMO, plans to enter into a "joint operating agreement" with Baylor Health Care system. The affiliation — not quite a merger — was contingent upon Texas Health's ability to sell Harris Methodist.